Sample Student final exam answers 2019 (2019 final exam assignment) Part 3: Model Research Reports

LITR 4340     American Immigrant Literature (Model Assignments)

Arielle Spiller

My Friends’ Immigrant Children

          Two beautiful girls are in the Dominican Republic waiting for their mother and father. Their parents are not out running errands or visiting family. They are not out of town on a vacation or even stuck at work. Actually, these two girls have never met their parents, a young couple almost a world away in Billings, MT. The girls have been tentatively matched for adoption through CONANI (Consejo Nacional para la Niñez y la Adolescencia), a Dominican adoption organization, for some time, but due to translation issues and the slow engine of bureaucracy, still they wait, living in an orphanage until all of the paperwork is finally complete, a process that can take years.

          This scenario is commonly played out across our country as legal United States citizens seek to adopt a child from a foreign country. They understand the complications, expense, and unreasonable costs generated by the multiple legal immigration fees, but still, they wait. Their goal is what I am referring to as a “sponsored immigration.” The process of sponsored immigrant is much more arduous, emotionally exhausting, and expensive than any of its components alone.  

          For example, let us evaluate each piece of the puzzle individually. Domestic adoption incurs cost as well, but the costs are offset by various tax and higher education incentives, as well as Medicaid health insurance in many cases. Traditional immigration for a relative can be managed by filing for an immediate family Green Card, which costs less than $1,000 once all applicable fees have been assessed (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). A person of any age from another country can petition to acquire a green card for no more than $1,225. By contrast, a sponsored adoption of a child not previously related to the parents can cost between $30,000-$40,000  (Families).  The costs are prohibitive and the delays are excessive, leading to months and even years of heartbreak for prospective parents.

It is clear from analyzing the numbers above, that there is a grave injustice being done. It is a double standard to allow people to experience a new life via legal immigration for a relatively small amount, while existing United States citizens have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to sponsor the immigration of a child they wish to adopt. While much of the blame for the cost and inconvenience lies at the foot of the child’s home country, my heartfelt wish is that the United States had organizations in place to reduce the cost and mediate for the best interests of the adopting family.

The family discussed in the introduction was approved by the United States government in July of 2017. One factor in their choice of the Dominican Republic as the home country of their future children was the existence of The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This is an international treaty between the United States and certain other countries designed to promote the ease of inter-country adoption. While it helps in theory, in practice, miles of red-tape and questionable moral practices circumvent The Hague Convention’s practicability. Ethan Kapstein, in his essay “The Baby Trade”, claims that “Facilitating the placement of orphaned children while attacking the corruption that accompanies it will be a fine balancing act” (115). He continues,

A more promising course would be to reinforce the multilateral legal regime that regulates global adoption. Hague . . . requires states to facilitate international adoptions while stamping out exploitation. Strengthening this regime is essential to the well-being of orphans and to the parents who would receive them. But doing so will require more diplomatic pressure, more foreign aid, and more political courage in confronting traffickers than the international community has yet mustered (116).

          There are several concerns on the side of the “sending” country that face legislators regarding international adoption. According to an article entitled “International Adoption: Current Status and Future Prospects” by Elizabeth Bartholet, international adoption is currently a hub of controversy. The sending countries are reluctant to release their children to more industrialized nations, separating them from family members that might be available for potential reunification. There is fear that exploitation or trafficking of children will occur if potential families are not thoroughly vetted, a process that can take years. There are mixed feelings about whether transracial adoption is a viable and beneficial outcome for a child; it can be harmful to remove children from their cultural roots. Some countries in Asia have even reduced the number of authorized international adoptions to make reparations for perceived imperialist offenses (90). 

These factors among many others have created numerous barriers to international adoption but could be mitigated if the ‘receiving' country were to play a part in sponsoring the adoption. Our government could provide financial sponsorship (through non-profit organizations), counseling services for children and families, or cultural heritage fairs to embrace the child’s home culture, just to name a few ideas. While child-trafficking remains a real concern, precautions can be taken to ensure that the children available for adoption are truly eligible and in need. Likewise, protections should be in place to ensure that adoptive families are not vulnerable to financial scams or con artists. These reasons all present a valid cause for concern, but security should not overtake the needs of children. "The law should also guarantee children the fundamental right to grow up in a nurturing environment. By focusing exclusively on the negative potential of international adoption the law fails in its overall obligation to serve children's best interests" (Bartholet 91).

          The actual legal process involved in international adoption is lengthy and cumbersome; it involves laws on the side of the sending and the receiving country, some of which overlap and even contradict. In the case of my friends in Montana, the Dominican Republic has required repeated and excessive home-studies, certifications, and paperwork to prove the prospective parents’ eligibility. It has been two years since they started the DR’s requirements, and more paperwork has been required every week, costing them thousands of dollars in mailing and notarization. If all goes well, the next step will be cohabitation with the children; it requires a minimum of 60 days parental residence in the DR. The parents will not have a livelihood during this time, as their visa is strictly of the adoptive parent variety. The 60 days could extend to as long as six months at the whim of the DR, and, not including travel expenses, the prospective parents will have invested $38,000 in this adoption. On the United States side, they must deal with the US embassy, visas, passports, adoption regulations, and more, all requiring legal representation and more paperwork (Families).

          International adoption needs an overhaul; families just do not have the funds and time necessary to devote years and tens of thousands of dollars to their endeavors, leaving thousands of children in underprivileged countries homeless and uncared for. In the meantime, there are parents longing to have a child to love and children desperately in need of a family suffering a world apart. To conclude, I cannot express myself better than Kapstein:

Our failure to build an effective international adoption regime is unlikely to dominate the foreign policy agenda these days; it threatens neither national security nor economic welfare. But with worldwide adoptions on the rise, it is a pressing problem nonetheless. Fixing it would help bring together the thousands of children and parents whose only desire is to build a family. In this day and age, that is no small achievement.